COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M's Jeremy Efferding was named to the All-SEC First Team for men's tennis, Aggie teammates Shane Vinsant, AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech were named to the second team, the Southeastern Conference announced Thursday afternoon. Head coach Steve Denton was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second straight season, leading the Aggies to a second straight SEC Tournament Championship and share of the 2015 SEC Regular Season Championship.
Playing in the nation's toughest conference, which boasts a national-best six teams in the Top 25 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national (ITA) rankings, Texas A&M (21-4) finished the regular season 11-1 in the league matches and ranked a program-best No. 3 this week. The Aggies' 11 conference wins this year were a program-best, eclipsing the tally of the 2014 squad, while the 21 dual victories marked the fourth time a Texas A&M-coached Denton squad has eclipsed the 20-win mark. The Coach of the Year nod was the fourth for Denton in his time in College Station after being named SEC Coach of the Year in 2014 and Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2011. Denton leads a squad with five ranked singles players heading into the NCAA tournament, the Aggies are one of just three teams in the country with five or more ranked players.
Efferding went an impressive 5-0 against league opponents this season to earn All-SEC honors. The senior finished with 10 dual wins this spring in singles competition to bring his career wins total to 94, the most on the Aggie roster. The Boca Raton, Fla. native teamed with senior Jordan Szabo to finish 15-6 in doubles matches and 7-2 in SEC action. The righty moved up to No. 48 in this week's ITA Singles rankings after earning SEC Tournament MVP honors after his championship clinching win over No. 29 Austin Smith of Georgia. Efferding was named to the All-SEC first team as a sophomore and second team as a junior.
Vinsant finished the season 6-3 in dual matches including a 5-1 record against SEC foes to land on the All-SEC Second Team. The Keller, Texas native has played all of his matches as the one or two line for the Aggies heading into the NCAA Tournament with five wins over ranked opponents. The junior ranks No. 7 alongside classmate Harrison Adams in the latest ITA doubles rankings, going 11-3 against ranked duos, including an unheard of 5-1 ledger against top-5 tandems. Last season Vinsant was named to the All-SEC first team, two years ago he was named to both the All-SEC second team and All-Freshman team.
Freshman Arthur Rinderknech made headlines around college tennis early this spring, clinching the upset of then-No. 5 Ohio State and the Aggies first ever defeat of the nation's number one team, No. 1 Oklahoma on February 20. The stringy right-hander earned All-SEC Second team and All-Freshman accolades for his efforts in maroon and white this season. The Paris native earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors twice this spring, finishing 13-3 in dual matches and unscathed, 6-0, in league play. The freshman capped off the SEC tournament claiming his first two ranked victories in his career, defeating No. 118 Mate Cutura in the SEC Semifinals and No. 26 Nathan Pasha in the championship match. Rinderknech was named to the SEC All-Tournament team Sunday and entered the ITA rankings for the first time in his career this week at No. 82.
Rinderknech's doubles partner and fellow freshman, AJ Catanzariti put the country on notice in the fall that he was a force to be reckoned with. The Pittsburgh native advanced to the ITA All-American main draw in Tulsa with seven straight victories to advance through both the pre-qualification and qualification draw. The pace of play fanatic finished matches left and right throughout the season, going 36-9 overall, 19-4 in duals and 10-1 in SEC play. The first year collegian finished second on the team with six wins over ranked opponents. For his efforts this season the league's coaches named Catanzariti to the All-SEC Second team and All-Freshman, as heads into the NCAA's with a No. 81 national ranking.
Catanzariti and Rinderknech partnered to go 9-2 in doubles action in league play primarily on the third doubles court. The freshman tandem led the Aggies with 17 wins this spring against just three defeats, the duo heads into postseason with a three match-win streak.
The Aggies await the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship bracket announcement, set for April 28 at 4:30 p.m. First and second round matches will be on campus at the tournament's top-16 seeds, following that the championship will be played at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco beginning on May 24.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M men's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieMensTennis.
A complete list of the SEC honors follows:
Player of the Year: Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
Freshman of the Year: Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Kyle Koch, South Carolina
Coach of the Year: Steve Denton, Texas A&M
First Team All-SEC
Lukas Ollert, AuburnÂ
Diego Hidalgo, Florida
Ben Wagland, Georgia
Austin Smith, Georgia
Nathan Pasha, Georgia
Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Jordan Daigle, LSU
Stefan Lindmark, Ole Miss
Nik Scholtz, Ole Miss
Florian Lakat, Mississippi StateÂ
Mikelis Libietis, Tennessee
Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M
Gonzales Austin, VanderbiltÂ
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Second Team All-SEC
Giammarco Micolani, Arkansas
Elliott Orkin, Florida
Beck Pennington, Kentucky
Chris Simpson, LSU
Gustav Hansson, Ole Miss
Rishab Agarwal, Mississippi State
Mate Cutura, Mississippi State
Juan Cruz Estevarena, Mississippi State
Kyle Koch, South Carolina
AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&M
Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M
Daniel Valent, Vanderbilt
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All-Freshman
Korey Lovett, Alabama
Chase Perez-Blanco, FloridaÂ
Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Gustav Hansson, Ole Miss
Juan Cruz Estevarena, Mississippi State
AJ Catanzariti, Texas A&MÂ
Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
Daniel Valent, Vanderbilt